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Isaac albeniz Biography

Isaac Albéniz

(Camprodon, Spain, 1860-Cambo-les-Bains, France, 1909) Spanish composer and pianist.The life of Isaac Albéniz, especially during his childhood and youth, is one of the most passionate novels in the history of music.A child prodigy, he made his debut as a pianist at the age of four, with great success, at a recital in Barcelona.After studying piano in this city and trying, unsuccessfully, to enter the Paris Conservatory, he continued his studies in Madrid, where his family had moved in 1869.

Isaac Albéniz

Restless spirit, at the age of ten he left home, and toured various cities and towns in Castile organizing his own concerts.A second escape, in 1872, took him to Buenos Aires.Protected by Alfonso XII's private secretary, the Count of Morphy, Albéniz, aware of his technical deficiencies, was able to continue his studies at the Brussels Conservatory.

An important year was 1882: he married and met the composer Felip Pedrell, who turned his attention to Spanish popular music, instilling in him the idea, essential for the development of his mature style, of necessity to create nationally inspired music.It was then that Albéniz, who had hitherto distinguished himself by creating pleasant and unpretentious salon pieces for his instrument, the piano, began to have greater ambitions regarding his career as a composer.

His most characteristic style began to take shape with the first important nationalist works written from 1885, especially with the Spanish Suite of 1886.His ideal of creating a « national music with a universal accent ”reached in the piano suite Iberia , his masterpiece, his most complete expression.Admired by musicians like Debussy, the influence of this score on other Spanish nationalist composers, including Manuel de Falla and Enrique Granados, was decisive.She alone is enough to grant Albéniz a privileged place in Spanish music.

Albéniz's work

Although he cultivated various genres, his work predominates compositions for piano.In his music for this instrument three periods can be distinguished.In the first, which ranges from his youth compositions until approximately 1880, Albéniz composes works of a romantic and intimate nature, clearly influenced by salon music.Among the main pieces of this period are his seven piano sonatas and his three Suites anciennes , in addition to the Six small waltzes .

His Spanish nationalist stage opens with the five pieces that make up the Cantos de España ( Prelude , Oriental , Under the palm tree , Córdoba , Seguidillas ).Most of the compositions of this second stage are inscribed in the current of Andalusian dyes called "alhambrismo", characterized by the profusion of rhythms of popular dances and elements of cante jondo, as well as by the use of modal scales such as Phrygian and ornamentation typical of guitar writing; however, in some pieces from this period folkloric features from other Spanish provinces are also heard.Other works included in this section are the Twelve characteristic pieces , the Spanish Suite and the Fantastic Concerto in A minor .

Albéniz's third creative stage has impressionist resonances, partly the result of his trips to Paris and the friendship that united him with composers such as Debussy, the highest representative of French musical impressionism.His main work from this last period is Iberia , a synthesis of various musical styles that owes much to Franz Liszt's virtuosic writing for piano, with certain guitar echoes.

The twelve pieces that make up the four notebooks of Iberia have a complex architecture.Most of them employ characteristic dance rhythms that alternate with a lyrical chorus of a vocal character or couplet.The first notebook includes the pieces Evocation , The port and Corpus Christi in Seville , the latter eminently descriptive.In the second notebook are the works Rondeña , Almería and Triana , which again They mention Andalusian corners.The third notebook is started by the piece entitled El Albaicín (in honor of the Granada neighborhood of the same name), followed by El Polo and Lavapiés , unique piece of Iberia inspired by a non-Andalusian place.And finally Málaga , Jerez and Eritaña , which are the three pieces that make up the fourth notebook.

Albéniz and his daughter Laura (around 1905)

Albéniz does not have a very extensive orchestral production, but all his symphonic works are endowed with a rich color and harmony, as well as of remarkable instrumental innovations.Sometimes he even integrated wind instruments from the Catalan cobla in the orchestra.Regarding his stage music, we must mention Pepita Jiménez , based on the homonymous novel by Juan Valera; Performed throughout Europe, it was always the composer's favorite work.In this opera Albéniz moves away from the Wagnerian tradition to develop an autochthonous, expressive and lyrical language.On the other hand, in his operas Henry Clifford and Merlin , his admiration for Wagner is evident.

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